Apparatus for rolling sheets.



No. 664,l29. Patented Dec. I8, I900.

W. C. CRONEMEYER. APPARATUS FOR ROLLING SHEETS.

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(No Model.)

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.ATTOHNE) WITNESSES M w w UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

WILLIAM C. ORONEMEYER, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALFTO SAMUEL DIESOHER, OF SAME PLACE.

APPARATUS FOR ROLLING SHEETS.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 664,129, dated December18, 1900.

Original application filed January 17,1900,Se'rialNoi 1,731. Divided andthis application filed March 22, 1900. Serial No.

9,685. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. CRoNE- MEYER, residing at Pittsburg, inthe county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented ordiscovered new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for ManufacturingBlack Plates or other Sheets, of which the following is a specification.

' In the accompanying drawing, which makes part of, this specification,the figure shows in plan virtually 'adiagrammatic View of my improvedsheet-mill. v The'present application is a division of application,SerialNo. 1,731, filed-January 17,- 1900,'for method of rolling sheets,in which'l have described and claimed a method of manufacturingsheets,while this application relates to the apparatus by which suchmethod is practiced. l 2o One purpose of my invention, generally stated,is to devise apparatus by which black plates and other sheets may beproduced in a rolling process from a slab or bar of such a size and somanipulated that doubling or folding is avoided in the process.

Further purposes of my inventionare to reduce the number of beatings andshearings to which the metal is subjected during the process, todiminish scrap and loss by oxidation, to greatly reduce the manual laborrequired, and produce a longer sheet than'is now possible, all as morespecifically hereinafter described.

The hot-rolling process as it is now ordi- 3 5 narily carried on and hasbeen for many years in sheet-mills is thus practiced: Two slabs or barsafter being suitably heated are passed consecutively through a two-highmill, one being passed back over the top of the upper 40 roll'by thecatcher as the other is introduced into the bite of the rolls. Afterthese pieces have had several passes each they are put into the heatingfurnace and reheated. When the partly-formed sheets are again taken fromthe furnace, they are too thin to be satisfactorily rolled singly, sothey are placed together and rolled through as a pair, one on top of theother. When the combined sheets by elongation become again too so thinto be profitably rolled, the two sheets are together folded through themiddle transversely, so as to become twice as thick and half as long.After folding the double sheet is sheared at the open end, because it isimpossible to make the ends perfectly matched When folded, thusrequiring the ends to be squared. After folding this double sheet isreheated and then rolled again until it is so thin that further rollingwill not be economical, when it is doubled or folded another time,sheared again at the open ends, and reheated, and so on, until the wholepack, which frequently is ultimately sixteen sheets thick, has beenbrought to the desired gage. It is also necessary at frequent intervalsto open up the sheets-that is, tear them apart or separate them with thetongs, so that they may not become cemented together as one sheet. Thedoubling of the sheets is accomplished by bending the sheet with tongs,the workmen 7o treading upon the fold, thus makinga rough bendapproximately as accurately as possible, and then taking theroughly-bent sheet and putting the bend under a power-actuated arm orsqueezer, which completes the crease. Al- 5 though the workmen becomevery skilful, it is obvious that bending the sheet while hot by merelytramping upon the same does not secure a perfect matching or alinemeutof the two ends of the sheet. Again, as the ends of the sheet do notroll to a straight edge, but are either convex or concave, no alinementcan be obtained. Therefore this matching must be accomplished byshearing the ends, which results in scrap and waste. Furthermore, thedoubling and shearing involve a great deal of manual labor, so that thepiece is greatly increased in cost, as well as chilled by the length oftime it is out of the rolls and being handled by the men. As a necessaryconsequence the piece has to be heated three or four times before it isfinished, each heating involving waste, added loss of time, expeuse offuel, and the workmen are idle. The doublers also are skilled workmen,receiving 5 correspondingly high wages. The number of manipulations tobe performed under the old practice requires at least five operatives ateach stand of rolls. Another necessary labor which has to be performedeach time a fresh 10o pass is given to a piece is screwing down the rollto make the pass the required size for the reduction. This results fromthe fact that the piece is roughed down and finished by a series ofpasses on one and the same set of rolls. Loss by oxidation in passing asingle or double sheet of a large superficial area through the rolls isnot inconsiderable, especially in the finishing part of the process. Mypresent invention either greatly minimizes or abolishes thesedisadvantages, which have inhered in the art for many years.

I will first explain the apparatus by which my process can be utilizedand afterward explain the steps of the method itself.

In the drawing, A is a heating-furnace for the billets or slabs.

B B are a series of rolls, preferably arranged tandem and two high,having suitable conveying devices 0 0 between them. Preferably theserolls are arranged with the stands so far apart that the piece is out ofthe bite of one pair before it is in the bite of the succeeding pair;but it may be possible to adjust the differential speed of the rolls soexactly that the mill shall be a strictly continuous mill.

D D are suitable shears for shearing the plates after they have gonethrough the series of rolls B B, which virtually constitutes a roughingseries.

E E are reheating-furnaces for the plates.

F F F F constitute two preferably parallel and preferably tandem seriesoffinishing-rolls having suitable conveyors G G G G.

V H II are the shears for trimming both edges of the piece after it hasbeen brought to the desired gage.

My method of using this apparatus is as follows: The slabs or bars areheated to a proper working heat in the furnace A, which may be any ofsuitable type, preferably a continuous furnace which has openings ordoors at both ends, and through which furnace the bars or slabs arepassed and in which they are brought to the required working heat andfrom which they are discharged to the rolls. As heretofore stated, Ihave arranged the mills with a roughing series of rolls B B, throughwhich the bar passes by the aid, preferably, of mechanical conveyers.When it has passed these rolls, it reaches the shears D D in the form ofa plate, skelp, or sheet and is now of such a degree of thinness andlength that it would not be profitable to roll it further as a singlepiece. It is accordingly cut up by the shears D D into shorter sheets,which are made into a suitable pile, either by manual or mechanicalpiling, which will be suited for reheating in the furnaces E E andrerolling in the finishing-rolls F F F F. The pieces are then sheared atH H.

As already stated in the plan as laid out on the drawing to which thisdescription refers, I have arranged the mills in three groups or series,in each of which the rolls are arranged in tandem fashion. However,these double set of finishing-mills is to expedite the work, as one setof finishing-mills could not well keep pace with the capacity of theroughing-mill, although one finishing set may possibly be used.

The number of stands of rolls in the finishing-mills may be more or lessthan shown on my drawing. The required number of stands of rolls foreither kind of work depends chiefly on the thickness of the slab, bar orbars, and the thickness or gage of the finished sheets. In other words,the greater the difference in thickness between the slab or bar and thefinished sheets the more reducing-work is to be done by the rolls andthe more stands of rolls will be required. Aceordingly in determiningthis question in any practical case in view the designer of the plantmust determine the number of stands with reference to the totalreduction desired from slab to finished plates or sheets. The slab orbar furnace and the series of roughing-rolls are relatively so locatedthat the delivery of the hot bars from this furnace to theroughing-mills is done in the most economical and expeditious mannerpracticable. The roughing-rolls are preferably located in tandem line,so that when the slab has passed the first stand of rolls itautomatically enters the second stand and in similar manner the third,fourth, &c., to the end of the series. I do not, however, limit myselfto the tandem arrangement of the roughing or finishing rolls, as anyarrangement of rolls whereby a sequence of reduction is obtainablecommercially will answer. Each of these stands of rolls accomplishes acertain reduction in the thickness of the slab and a correspondingelongation of same in the direction of motion. Thus, for illustration,if the total reduction effected bythe series of roughing-rolls is suchthat the thickness of piece after the last pass is only one-sixteenth ofthe original thickness, then the length of the piece thus rolled will besixteen times the original length. Accordingly in the case mentioned aslab of eight inches in width in the direction of motion would grow toeight times sixteenthat is, one hundred and twenty-eight inches, or tenfeet and eight inches.

The sheets enter the reheating-furnaces in packs and are maintained inthis condition undisturbed while passing through these furnaces for thepurpose of being reheated for further reduction in the finishing-mills.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that some of theadvantages that I obtain are these: Instead of being reheated the slabpasses from its first original heating through the whole series ofroughing-rollss.

There is only one reheating necessary-namely,at the furnaces EE'although my invention is not inevitably limited to roughingdown at asingle heat. 7 Again, the constant readjustment of the rolls for eachsucceeding pass is avoided, and the rolls are once set for a given gageand remain so set until the mill is put upon a different order. isentirely eliminated and the shearing greatly diminished.

In my process 1 reduce the number of men required to roll with thepresent method aboutfrom fifty to seventy-five per cent. I also turn outfive to ten per cent. more sheets from a ton of material than the oldmethod by converting the greater part of the waste in doubling andshearing and also in squaring or trimming into sheets.

In the process as practiced at present there is considerable waste byoxidation. This is The doubling,

reduced materially by my packing the eight 5 sheets or what-ever numbermay be rolled in a finished pack on top of each otherimmediately afterleaving the roughing-mill and shears and sending this pack through thefurnace and thereby reheating but once, instead of heating and thenreheating each time the sheets are doubled, as in the old process. Thismeans that the sheets in my process are exposed less to the air whilehot and that therefore there is less oxidation. 1 also by means offinishing my sheets more rapidly by passing them through a series ofrolls and doing the packing in one operation instead of a number ofdoublings, as in the old process, and omitting the passing of the sheetsback over the top rolls, as in the old process, expose the heatedmetalless to the air and therefore have less oxidation than in the oldmethod.

In the old method the length of sheets is limited by the trouble ittakes to pass them back over the mills on account of their weight. In mymethod the sheets can be rolled in greater lengths. My sheets may beleft full length when coming from the finishing-mills, so as to beadapted for use for continuous rooting.

By the word continuous as used in the claims I do not wish to beunderstood that the finishing necessarily is to be done in what is knownin rolling-mill practice as continuous rolls," but that the finishingrolling ope ration is to be continuous in the sense that it shall not beinterrupt-ed by other steps, such as shearing, doubling, reheating, &c.

Having described my invention, 1 claim-- 1. Apparatus for manufacturingcommercial black plat-es and other metal sheets without doublingconsisting of a series of roughing-rolls in which the metal is subjectedto a continuousroughingrolling operation; shearing mechanism; reheatingfurnace; and a. series of finishing-rolls in which the metal issubjected to a continuous finishing rolling operation; the said elementsbeing arranged for operation in the order named.

2. Apparatus for manufacturing commercial black plates and other metalsheets without doubling, consisting of a single series of roughing-rollsarranged in tandem; shearing mechanism; a reheating-furnace; and aseries of finishing-rolls arranged in tandem in which the metal issubjected to a continuous finishing rolling operation; thesaid elementsbeing arranged for operation in the order named.

3. Apparatus for manufacturing commercial black plates and other metalsheets without doubling, consisting of a single series of roughing-rollsin tandem; shearing mechanism; reheating-furnaces; and two or moreseparate sets of finishing-rolls, each arranged in tandem and in each ofwhich the metal is subjected to a continuous finishing rollingoperation; the said elements being arranged for operation in the ordernamed.

t. Apparatus for manufacturing commercial black plates and other metalsheets without doubling,consisting of a heating-furnace; a single seriesof roughing-rolls in tandem; shearing mechanism; reheating furnaces; andtwo or more separate sets of finishingrolls each arranged in tandem andin each of which the metal is subjected to a continuous finishingrolling operation; the said elements being arranged for operation in theorder named.

Signed at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, this 3d day of March, 1900.

WILLIAM C. CRONEMEYER.

